made Before Iudgment after Iudgment or at the tyme of Iudgment You cannot say before IudgmeÌ„t For such as we are found in the last moment of this life such are we summoned before the tribunall seate of God according to many passages of holy Scripture which S. Gregory in his dialogues gathereth togeather according to Greg. l. 4. dial c. 39. 1. Cor. 3. 2. Cor. 5. ad Rom. 2. ad Gala. 6. Marc. 13. v. 36. v. 17. the expresse words of S. Paul which I shall quote in the next Chapter And according to that of S. Marke where God sayth he shall find in the houre of death some sleepy some breeding and beginning to do well Woe be vnto them Neither can this Purgation be either at or after IudgmeÌ„t For the Iudgment of God is according to truth therfore such as Protestants are presented before his throne such are they iudged They are presented before him not wholy purged but tainted with the corruption the last actions of life draw as they faine from the poisoned fountaine of Nature Therfore they must be iudged guilty of sinne defiled with those filthy dregs And whereas you obstinatly also defend that the wages of all sin without Fayth Fulk in c. 1. Ep. 1. â—â— sect 5. and Repentance is eternall death no sentence of remission but the irreuocable doom of euerlasting damnatioÌ„ ought to be pronounced against all that dye of your profession vnles you repeale the Law of God recorded by Salomon Eccles c. 11. vers 3. Where the tree falleth there it shal be or coÌ„trary to the decree of our inexorable Iudge allot tyme to belieue and place to repent after the warfarre of this life is ended to them Field vbi supra that haue their sinnes as M. Field sayth remitted in the first moment of the next Cypr. l 4. Ep. 2. Orig. hom 6. in Eâ—â—â—d Aug. in â—0 hom hom 16. Dan. 7. vers 10. 28. Lastly the Fathers do not only require an instant but longer space of punishment after this life according to the remaines of sinne S. Cyprian sayth One thing it is a long tyme punished for trespasses to be amended and purged by fire another to abolish all faults by suffering for Christ Origen All must come vnto the fire all to the forge c. If any one bring a little iniquity that little like lead ought to be consumed with fire and if more heauy or leady metall he is more burned that more may be wasted and melted forth S. Augustine discoursing Amb. in c. 12. Luc. Tertul. â— de anima c. 17. Greg. Nazian orat in S. lumina Lactan. l. 7. cap. â—1 Eus Emis hom 3. de Epipha Hilar. in Psal 118. of that propheticall speach mentioned by Daniel A fiery and violent floud ranne before the face of our Lord Some sayth he in the next life shall passe throâ—gh a fiery lake and horrible shallowes full of burning flames as much as shall remaine of the drosse of sinne so long shall the delay of passage be S. Ambrose So long is euery one exercised with noysome paynes vntill he pay the punishment of his faulty errour Tertullian S. Gregory Nazianzen Lactantius Eusebius Emissenus and S. Hilary haue many worthy sentences to this purpose which cannot be interpreted of M. Fields momentary Purgation nor of the guilt of sinne which without repentance deserueth damnation but either of the punishment due to former faults or of the saultines of lesser sinnes which are of their owne nature veniall or pardonable the chiefest points I intended to proue in this Chapter the confutation of Obiections I referre to the next THE SECOND CHAPTER WHEREIN Praier for the Dead is defended against the foresaid Doctors M. Field and M. Fulke PVRGATORY Praier for the Dead are lincked together in such mutuall dependency the one with the other as S. Isidore teacheth by the proofe of the latter by necessary consequence the former ensueth Because if our praiers releeue the soules departed they caÌ„not be in state of happinesse for then they should not need Isido l. de diuin offi c. de Sacrif them nor in the state of damnation for then our indeauours could not auaile them Therefore in the state of Purgatory they suffer punishment for their former misdeeds from which they be freed by the Praiers Almsdeeds and other charitable workes of the faithfull vpon earth as the Holy Ghost witnesseth in the booke of Machabees 2. Machab c. 12. v. vltimo 1. It is a holy and behoouefull cogitation to pray for the Dead that they may be released of their sinnes Which although our Aduersaries discard as no Canonicall Scripture yet they ought to credit it as much at least as Liuie the Roman or Thucidides the Grecian Historiographer they ought to reuerence it as the allowed testimony of a graue ancient and most worthy writer worthy to out-countenance all the base vpstarts of our latter age worthy to be accounted Cyp. de exhorta Martyrij Ambr. l. 2. de Iacob c. 10. 11. 12. Hier. in prolog in Machab. Aug. l. 18. de ciu Dei cap. 36. Concil Carth. can 47. Field in appen 1. p. fol. 69. Eccles c. 7. Eccles 38. Cyp. ser de Eleemosy Amb. in l. de Tobia cap. 1. Basil in orat de auaritia Aug. in Speâ—ul Tob. 4. Beda in fine Comment in l. 1. Reg. Gen. 50. by S. Cyprian S. Ambrose S. Hierome S. Augustine and by the third Councell of Carthage One of the Diuine Secretaries and Pen-men of the holy Ghost In so much as S. Augustine inclineth not only as M. Field writeth to this opinion but expresly resolueth The bookes of Machabees not the Iewes but the Church esteemeth Canonicall Likewise it is written Mortuo ne prohibcas gratiam Restraine not thy fauour from the Dead Moreouer My Sonne power forth thy teares vpon the Dead c. And In his departure make his memory rest in peace Tobie also whose booke S. Cyprian S. Ambrose S. Basill S. Augustine admit into the Canon of Scripture counsaileth Place thy bread and thy wine on the Sepulcher of the Iust and do thou neither eat nor drinke thereof with sinners 2. Hence it appeareth it was an ancient custome amongst the Iewes to make a feast at the funeralls of their friends to inuite the poore and faithfull persons thereunto who by the charity and Almesdeeds bestowed vpon them might pray for their soules And it is most likely the ancient Patriarkes and Prophets intended this reliefe to their deceased friends whom they with Praier with Fasting with griefe and sorrow so many daies lamented as was otherwise vnfitting vnlesse it had beene addressed as Venerable Bede well noteth to the benefit of their soules 3. The Patriarch Ioseph 77. daies mourned the death of his father Iacob The men of Iabes Galaad 7. daies continued a fast at the solemne buriall of Saul Ionathas Of whose death when King Dauid the Royall Prophet heard he wept fasted and
in his 5. conclusion fol. 656. still and stand in doubt of saluation wherwith M. Reynoldes slaundereth vs. For the probability or morall certainty which we acknowledge ought not to trouble the peace of our Consciences nor anxiously distract much lesse torment the quietnes of our mindes It is a probability intermixed with feare and nourished with such comfortable VVhitak l. 8. aduer Duraeum and stedfast hope with such filial loue as banisheth all combersome anxiety all wauering doubtfullnes all seruile base and troublesome solicitude That which Whitaker so eagerly presseth against Duraeus Try your owneselues if you be in the fayth proue your selues know you 2. Cor. 13. vers 5. Cornelius Cornelij à Lapide in eum locuÌ„ not that Christ Iesus is in you vnles perhaps you be reprobates is interpreted as Cornelius declareth out of Theophilact of Christs aboad not in euery particuler person by iustifying grace but in the Church of the Corinthians by power miracles conuersions and other externall gifts wrought by S. Paul and to the tryall of this his presence he exhorteth them by the remembrance and consideration of the workes acheiued among them and not to try their iustifying fayth vnles it be by some probable tokens 9. The obiections of the second kind which ascribe Ioan. 3. v. 36. â— Ioan. 5. v. 13. Rom. 10. v. 9. Rom. 9. v. 33. Ioan. 3. v. 15. 16. Ioan. 6. v. 35. the certainty of saluation to fayth are these He that beleeueth in the Sonne hath life euerlasting They that beleeue in the name of the Sonne of God are to know that they haue eternall life confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and beleeue in thy hart that God raysed him from the dead thou shalt be safe He that beleeueth in Christ shall neuer be confounded nor perish but haue euerlasting life He that beleeueth in me shall neuer thirst He that eateth this bread shall liue for euer To which I answere that these generall promises which assure life and saluation to the beleeuer are vnderstood conditionally if he beleeue as he ought with a true fayth working by charity and he is sayd to haue euerlasting life because by Cyril in Ioan. 3. fayth he hath entred the gate and way which leadeth thereunto or hath receaued the seed thereof the pledge right and title vnto it by the spirit of adoption or diuine filiation imparted vnto him He is promised also to be saued conditionally if he perseuere in that state to the end after which many other vniuersall sentences of Scripture Ioel. 2. v. 3â— Rom. 10. v. 13. Prou. 1. v. 28. Matth. 7. vers 8. Iac. 4. v. 3. are to be expounded It is written Whosoeuer shall inuocate the name of our Lord shall be saued and contrarywise Then shall they inuocate me and I will not heare them Christ sayth Whosoeuer doth aske shall receaue Contrarywise you aske and receaue not the reason he subioyneth because you aske amisse that you may consume it in your concupiscences Therefore these generall sentences whosoeuer inuocateth or beleeueth shall be saued are to be construed also with this promise If he inuocate and beleeue with true fayth sincere affection and purity of life as it behooueth him to do 10. Secondly whereas many causes concurre to the Hebr. 5. v. 9. Rom. 8. v. 24. Eccles 1. v. 27. Tob. 12. v. â— workes of Iustification or saluation the holy Scripture sometyme attributeth it to one sometyme to another To obedience He was made to all that obey him cause of eternall saluation To Hope By hope we are saued To Feare The feare of our Lord expelleth sinne To Almesdeeds Almes-deeds deliuereth from death because ech of them if nothing els be wanting is sufficient to saue vs and so fayth acheiueth our saluation if we be not defectiue in other things required thereunto or rather because it is the first supernaturall habit origen or roote of life which springeth and bringeth forth the liuely motions of all other vertues and for this cause our iustification is more often assigned to fayth then to any other vertue neuertheles if it fayle dye or be lost as in the next Controuersy I shall proue it may be it procureth not the health of our soules to which it was ordeyned 11. The last troupe of their misapplyed sentences which retyre vnder the standard of Gods care and protection Ioan. 10. v. 27. 28. VVhitak l. 8. aduers Duraeum Abbot c 3. Ioan. 17. v. â—0 21. Matt. 24. v. 24. Rom. 8. v. 30. 1. Cor. 1. v. 8. for security of saluation are My sheep heare my voice c. and they shall not periâ—h for euer no man shall plucke them out of my hands Christ prayed for the faythfull that they might be all one with him and no doubt obtayned it affirmeth it impossible for the elect to be induced into errour Whom he hath predestinated he hath called and whome he hath called he hath iustifyed and glorifyed He confirmeth and strengthneth them vnto the end I answere heere is a new throng of witnesses but no euidence brought in our Protestants behalfe For they are all veryfied of the elect in generall that they shall not perish but be preserued and glorifyed in the end into their harts he striketh his feare with them he maketh his euerlasting couenant but heer is no word or syllable that this or that man in particuler is one of them he may be in the number of such as are outwardly Matt. 20. v. 16. Aug. ser 16. de verb. Apostol called For many are called but few elect He may be also inwardly iustifyed for a tyme which yet S. Augustine auoweth to be vnknown to him but that he is one of the happy band of those who are called according to the purpose and eternall election of God is an inscrutable mystery fit and expedient sayth the same S. Augustine to be Aug. tom 7. de corr gra c. 13. hidden in this place where elation and pride is so much to be decaded c. That all euen those who runne may feare whilest it is concealed who shall ariue to the goale 12. In like manner to answere the authorityes of the Fathers foure obseruations are carefully to be noted Nazian in orat conso in grand Ambros serm 5. Bernar. ser â— de annuÌ„ August tract 22. in Ioan. First that they auouch vs certaine of Gods grace as S. Gregory Nazianzen doth Certaine of saluation S. Ambrose Of remission of saluation S. Bernard Of finall perseuerance S. Augustine to wit conditionally if we keep the commandements if we striue manfully against vice euen to the end c. Secondly they speake sometyme of the certainty of hope and confidence not of the certainty of fayth or of the certainty only of humane fayth by probable coniectures not of diuine and supernaturall Thus S. Hierome S. Augustine S. Leo and S. Gregory in the places heere quoted Thirdly they say that we are infallibly
was an hungred and you gaue me to drinke c. Get you away froÌ„ me you cursed c. I was an hungred and you gaue me not to eate I was a thirst and you gaue me not to drinke For this cause the Apostle Matth. 25. v. 34. v. 41. 1. Cor. 4. v. 17. Tertult l. de râ—sur carnis c. 40 in Scorp cap. 13. Aug. ep 105. Chrysost hom 3. de Lazaro auerreth the sufferances of his life to win or cause faluation Our Tribulation which presently is momentary and light worketh aboue measure exceedingly an eternall weight of glory in vs where for worketh our Protestants corruptly translated heretofore prepareth albeit they haue since corrected it because it is in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is potently or forcibly worketh In liew whereof Tertullian readeth perficiet in nobis shall perfect and accoÌ„plish in vs an eternall weight of glory yet not physically as the efficient but morally as the meritorious cause which winneth and purchaseth the laurell of be atitude as sinnes procure the bane of endles misery Whereupon S. Augustine Euen as death is rendred for astipend to the merit of sinne so is euerlasting life as a stipend to the merit of iustice And S. Chrysostome By good workes we deserue heauen as by euill hell THE SECOND CHAPTER IN WHICH The same is strengthned by other reasons authorities and the Obiections satisfied THE third Argument to support the merit of workes is drawne from those places of Scripture which testify the singular valew prerogatiue of Almes-deeds Tob. 1â— v. 9. and Eccles 3. v. 33. Prou. 25. v. 27. Pro. 16. v. 6. Dan. 4. v. 24. that it deliuereth from death purgeth sinnes maketh vs find merit and life euerlasting Giue almes and behold all things are cleane vnto you By mercy and faith sinnes are purged By mercy and truth iniquity is redeemed Redeeme thou thy sinnes with almes and thy iniquities with the mercies of the poore which place by the Protestants former and by their later translation set forth by commaundement of his Maiesty is thus adulterated Breake of thy sinnes by righteousnes For although the Hebrew or rather Chaldeack word Peruk of Perak the roote signifieth sometime to breake in pieces to deuide to rend in sunder and also to redeeme yet neuer properly to breake off or cease to do couering by righteousnes as our sectaries wrest it not extinguishing by almes deeds as the Verbe inforceth the remaynes of sinne But albeit the Chaldeake word had beene ambiguous as in no indifferent mans iudgement it is in that place yet the Latine word Redime redeeme at least the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath no other natiue signification then ransome or redeeme thy sinnes should haue taken all doubt and ambiguity away had those Protestant translations syncerely followed the originall fountaines as they pretend 2. The fourth and last reason is insinuated in holy writ in these very textes which commend some vertuous and heroicall actes as better in themselues more gratefull vnto God then others although both the faith be equall inhabitant grace by which they are wrought 1. Cor. 7. v. 38. â—bidem v. 39. 40. Matt. 19â— v. â—1 For so S. Paul sayth He that ioyneth his virgin in matrimony doth well and he that ioyneth not doth better Likewise speaking of the widdow Let her marry to whom she will only in our Lord but more blessed shall she be if she so remaine In like manner to distribute all our goodes to the poore and follow Christ is of it selfe more perfect then to enioy the riches of the world and bestow them in his seruice Yf thou wilâ— be perfect go and sell the thinges that thou hast and giue IoaÌ„ 15. v. 13 to the poore c. To sacrifice our liues in testimony of our faith is more precious in the eies of God then to releeue the poore with a cup of cold water Greater loue then this no man hath that a man yield his life for his friends In so much as there is some valew some worthines in the act of Martyrdome which is not in almesdeeds some dignity in voluntary pouerty which is not in rich liberality some excellency of merit in virginity beyond the degree or holines of wedlocke wherein least our aduersaries should wrangle that they are more excellent and worthy only as they are signes of greater faith both our Sauiour and the Apostle speake absolutely without any condition of greater or lesser prerogatiue of faith Therefore the thinges considered in themselues are better more grâ—tefull and meritorious all other circumstances being equally weighed For as conditionall assertions cannot be absolutely In conc Mediolan Ambros Epist 81. Ambr. ibid. ep 8 c. Aug serm 143. de teÌ„p Diuersa specits claritatis quia diuersa suÌ„t merita charitatis Centur. 5. c. 4. col 518. Aug. l. 3. de peccat meritis Contur c. 4 4. col 301. Amb. l. 2. ad Marcel Cent. 3. 4. col 86. Orig l. 10. ep ad Rom. Cent. 4. c. 4. Col. 192. Cbrom in concion de Beat. Cent. 4. c. 10 col 1250. Ierom aduer Iou. Cent. 3. c. 4. col 86. Tertul l. de Ieiunio Cent. 2. c. 4 col 64. vnderstood no more can absolute and irrestreyned be expounded conditionally vnles we peruert the ten our of Gods sacred lawes and shake the whole fabrike of diuine oracles in peeces Whereupon very religiously S. Ambrose Bassian and other Bishops without any condition of more feruent faith absolutely auouch Mariage is good by which the posterity of Irumane succession is propagated but Virginity is better whereby the inheritance is gotten of our celestiall Kingdome and the succession is found out of heauenly merits Also the same S. Ambrose with Bassian and the rest a little before It is a wild and rusticall howling to awaite or looke for no fauour of virginity no prefermeÌ„t of chastity to be willing promiscuously to confound all thinges to abrogate the degrees of diuers merits and bring in a certeine pouerty of celestiall remunerations S. Augustine You see that clarity is promised to the bodies of Saintes and a various lustre of clarity for the various merits of charity But of him S. Ambrose Origen Chromatius S. Hierome Tertullian and S. Ignatius the Apostles Scholler I alleadge no other then the words of the Centuristes It is apparant say they that Augustine was of this mind that Virgins deuoted to sanctimony haue more merit with God then the faithfull married folkes For because Iouinian thought the contrary that they haue no more merite this he reprehended in him Ambrose to insolently pronounceth of the merit of virgins Origen maketh virginity a worke of perfection Chromatius extolleth voluntary Pouerty and sayth that by the merite thereof the riches of the heauenly Kingdome are obteyned Hierome de striuing too much for Virginity is somewhat vniust or aduerse to marriage Tertullian attributeth merit to Fasting It appeareth out of the Epistles of
in heauen Which words Valentine and Apollinaris misconstruing gainsayd the misteâ—ry See Medina introduct in â— p. q. 3. Thâ—op in hunc loc of Christs Incarnation and would needs haue his flesh to haue descended from heauen as his manhood after ascended thither Neyther did they want semblance of places the card of Protestancy to direct them for matching this text with another of S. Paul to the Ephesians they found coherence He that descended the same is also he Ephes c. 4. v. 10. that is ascended And least the obscurity of either might darken their vnderstanding they opened them both by this plaine obuious and euident sentence Primus homo de â— Cor. 15. v. 47. terra terrenus Secundus homo de caelo caelestis The first man of earth earthly the second man of heauen heauenly 19. Let our Ghospellers vaunt as long as they list of the perspicuity and patronage of Scripture neuer can they bring in any controuersy whatsoeuer so many in their behalfe or one so cleare a place as this Or if they could might they not be blinded might they not be inueigled as these impes of Satan were M. Fields opinion is they might We confesse sayth he that neyther conference Field l. 4. c. 19. pag. â—â—4 of places nor consideration of the things precedent and subsequent nor looking into the originalls are of any force vnlesse we find the things which we conceaue to be vaderstood and meant in the places interpreted to be consonant to the rule of fayth And this rule of fayth as he further teacheth must be tryed Field l. 4. ibid. pag. 242. eyther by the Generall practise of the Church the renowned of all ages or the Pastours of an Apostolicall Church Which to omit all other examples is clearly seene in the Translatours of our English Protestants Bible Who although they had skill in tongues studied Scriptures ransacked Originalls examined places yet rouing from the marke M. Field prescribeth most pitiously erred in their vulgar Translation Witnesse hereof 20. D. Reinolds who disputed against it in his Maiesties Rein. in the Conference at Hampt Court p. 45. 46 c. Burges in his Apol. sect 6. Carleile in his booke that Christ went not downe to Hellp 116. 144. Broughton in his epistle to the Counsel presence at Hampton Court M. Burges a man of the same sect who affirmeâ—h That the approued English Protestant translation hath many omissions many additions which sometyme obscureth sometyme peruerteth the sense M. Carleile another brother of this disordred crew hauing discouered many faults in the English Bible of them inferreth That the English Protestants in many places detort the Scriptures from their right sense and shew themselues to loue darknesse more then light and falshood more then truth They haue corrupted and depraued the sense obscured the truth deceaued the ignorant and supplanted the simple Likewise M. Broughton one of the chiefest Linguists amongst our late Precisians who not many yeares ago wrote an Epistle to the Lords of the Counsell which is yet extant desireth them to procure speedily a new translation Because that quoth he which is now in England is full of errours And in his aduertisment of Corruptions he denounceth to the Protestant Bishops Broughtoâ— in his Aduert to the Bishops That their publike translation of Scripturs into English is such as it peruerteth the text of the old Testament in 848. places And that it causeth millions of millions to reiect the new Testament and to runne to eternall flames 21. So that if these rare men furnished with so manifold helpes endued with the knowledge of sundry tongues guided by their owne rules to attaine the right sense and meaning of holy write and allowed by publike authority to translate the same swaâ—ued notwithstaÌ„ding sunke into the gulfe of such detestable errours what shall we thinke of others of meaner talents What hope can any one haue not to stray in this vast wildernes of conferring places And if the English Bible which now is commonly read in Churches and expounded in pulpits be euery where stayned with the spots of pestilent and pernicious falshood in what wofull case are they who credit it as the Oracle of God They who repayre vnto it as to the treasure of life the touchstone of truth They who neither vnderstanding the Greeke Latin or Hebrew ought to appeale in all doubts of fayth to the high Tribunall of this corrupted Iudge Whose sentence as their owne Ghospellers testify is depraued obscured detorted from the right sense deceaueth the ignorant supplanteth the simple peruerteth the text in so many places as it carrieth millions of millions to eternall flames Open therfore your eyes my beloued Countrymen and see in what daunger you liue daunger of receauing the doome of falshood the sentence of death in lieu of the soueraigne verdict of Gods sacred truth 22. Since the first edition of this worke was published I haue seene a certaine abrupt and broken answer secretly spread abroad to many of my former arguments the summe whereof is this That there is a great difference beweene the word of God and man for the later filleth the eare with the sound and the hearers mind with a like conceit cleare or obscure conformable to the signification it beareth but the word of God worketh not only in the eare immediatly but also in the Certaine shifts of the aduersaries refuted hart in such sort that although the exteriour word be darke and ambiguous yet by interiour inspiration it may produce a cleare conceit of the thing signifyed in the hearers mind By which means sayth this Respondent the spirit of God speaking in his diuine word and working interiourly in the hart is the supreme rule or Iudge of all Controuersyes By which meanes it heareth vnderstandeth explaineth and compelleth the Appellants to receaue thâ— sentence giuen By which meanes it causeth infallible certainty vttereth it selfe clearely manifestly condemneth the guilty persons and performeth such thinges as are necessary to the office of a Iudge So he Yet all in couert not deeming his reply polished inough for open view because our question is not what God may do or what his inspiration may produce but what he ordinarily doth and whome he hath established his ordinary Iudge in determining debates what publicke and vniuersal rule what infallible ground or foundation we haue of our beliefe which we ought to follow to which others are bound to submit themselues and by which we are alwayes directed the right way of Truth This is not as I haue shewed the outward word or the inward working of the holy Ghost in the harts of euery particuler man 1. Because the faythfull cannot without some other particuler help be infallibly assured of that inspiration or working of the holy Ghost whether it be naturall or supernaturall from God or not they cannot be infallibly assured that they truly conceaue the sense reuealed and belieue it a right
for euer He that belieueth and is baptized shall be saued Euery one that shall inuocate the name of the Lord shal be saued to wit if he inuocate and call vpon him in fayth and charity as he ought if he belieue aright and doth not finally loose his fayth nor the grace of Baptisme and water of the holy Ghost once receaued as I shall proue heereafter he may Therefore this argument of theirs maketh no more against the corporal then spirituall feeding for as euerlasting life is promised to the faythfull and pious belieuer so to the reall and worthy Receauer and as the one may fall from his worthy dignity so the other make shipwracke of his liuely fayth and eternally perish Perchance you will obiect that this answere suteth not with the prerogatiue which our Sauiour giueth to the holy Eucharist aboue Manna That Ioan. 6. v. 49. 50. the Fathers did eate Manna in the desert and they dyed this is the bread that descendeth froÌ„ heauen that if any man eat of it he dye not For whosoeuer did worthily feed on that dainty Manna and continued in the same state neuer tasted the bitternes of spirituall death therefore according to this construction it is not inferiour to the blessed Sacrament I answere first that such as then liued for euer enioyed not the priuiledges of life by the vertue and force of Manna but by their loue of God and fayth in Christ their true Messias and yet they that worthily receaue the Eucharist truely liue by the vertue power and efficacy of Christs reall presence the spring of life and fountaine of grace therein contained 9. Secondly I reply that Christ doth not only compare the Eucharist with Manna in respect of the life and death of the soule but of the body also after this sort Manna could not affoard to your Fathers life of body much lesse of soule during their short passage through the desert This bread affoardeth life to the soule much more to the body during the length of all eternity They that eate Manna dyed in body a temporall death they that eate this bread shall not dye the eternall death neither of the body nor soule And heerein consisteth as Maldonate commenteth vpon this text the singular grace elegancy of our Sauiours comparison in passing from Maldonatâ— in hunc loeum Matt. 8. v. 22. Ioan. 4. v. 13. one kind of life and death to another which plesant digression he often vseth as the same Author discourseth in other places In S. Matthew Let the dead bury the dead The first he calleth dead in soule the next in body In S. Iohn Euery one that drinketh of this water shall thirst againe but he that shall drinke of the water that I will giue him shall not thirst for euer First he speaketh of the corporall Matt. 26. v. 29. water and thirst of the body then of the spirituall water and thirst of the soule Likewise I wil not drinke from hence forth of this fruit of the vine vntill that day when I shall drinke it with you new in the kingdome of my Father Heere he first mentioneth the naturall wine of the grape then the metaphoricall wine of celestiall ioyes So now he first speaketh of the corporall then of the spirituall and euerlasting life which our Blessed Sacrament of his owne nature yeildeth to all such as daily receaue it although Manna yielded not as much as the corporall if they doe not after by sinne willfully destroy the quickening grace and liuely seed it imparteth vnto them And thus the wordes are of more emphasy the comparison more pithy and the preheminence of the Eucharist aboue Manna more remarkable then if our Sauiour had spoken in both places only of the spirituall Lastly if our Sectaryes expound S. Iohn of the eating by fayth how vncongruously will they make S. Paul to speake writing of the same matter and saying He that eatech vnworthily which 1. Cor. 11. v. 27. cannot be properly attributed to the belieuer because he that belieueth not as he ought doth either falsly or fainedly belieue we cannot with any congruity of speach say that he belieueth vnworthily therefore as S. Paul so likewise S. Iohn ought to be vnderstood not of the spirituall but of the corporall eating of Christs sacred flesh 10. That which M. Bilson alleadgeth out of Gelasius S. Leo condemning the Communion vnder one kind Bils 4. par pag. 684. 685. Gelas can Comperiâ—ê° dist 2. Leo. ser 4. de quadra is of no force at all For they condemne the dry Communion not of the Catholiks but of the Manichees who teaching that Christ brought into this world and walked vpon earth with a meere empty and phantasticall body deuoyd of true and natural bloud they in testimony of this errour abstained from the bloud with great sacriledge as Gelâ—sius writeth deuided one and the selfe same mistery which all Catholikes had iust cause to reprehend in them no Protestant any cause to obiect against vs who neither deuide the mistery nor abstaine from the bloud but constantly teach that by fequele concomitance we receaue it wholy and entirely contained in the body we inioy the full participation of Christ Fulke loco â—itato Bils 4. par pag. 682. as M. Fulke requireth 11. At last both he and D. Bilson ioyntly oppose the Practise of the vniuersall Church which for many ages togeather ministred the Sacrament vnder both kinds euen to the Laity I grant that the Church vsed it as a thing lawfull not as a Aug. epist 23. ad Bonif Tolet. Con. cap. 11. Tho. 3. p. q. 80. art 9. ad 3. Cypr. serm de lapsis thing prescribed or decreed by God or vniuersally without exception in all times and places practised Which manner of receauing the Church might after change when her Communicaâ—ts were so many as wine sufficient could not be fitly consecrated nor without eminent perill of shedding or danger of abusing be conueniently ministred It was an vsuall custome both in the Greeke and Latine Church for many ages to communicate with the Chalice young sucking babes of which S. Augustine the x j. Toletan Councell and S. Thomas make mention And S. Cyprian writeth of the consecrated Bloud powred into the mouth of an Infant But as the Church vpon iust cause abrogated that custome leauing the children the benefit of neither kind without any wrong vnto them and Protestants allow hereof why write they so bitterly against debarring the people vpon as many important reasons from the vse of the Chalice where notwithstanding the whole fruit and benefit thereof to their comfort remayneth 12. Besides in many things you your selues who count it in vs a crime so damnable stray from that which Christ practised in the institution of the Sacramenâ— for example Christ communicated only men you women also he in a priuate house you in a publike Temple he at night you in the morning he with * For
8. 2. ad Cor sect 3. 2. Cor. 1. v. 6. Collos 1. v. 24. Rom. 9. v. 3. Orig. hom 10. 24. in Num. 2. Cor. 8. v. 14. Leo the third c Anton 2. p. hist tit 16. cap. ◠§. 23. Vrban the second d Ludgerâ—â— ep de S. Swiberto apud Surium tom 2. Innocentius the third and others graunted were alwayes dispensed out of the publike treasure of the Church 10. Moreouer it is conformable to Gods iustice auswerable to the Communion of Saints which we professe in our Creed agreable to the mutuall intercourse between members of the same body that the wants of one be supplyed by the store of others and that there be as I say a communication of benefits not only from the head to the members but also from one member to the rest of his fellow-members After which manner not only the chiefe Magistrates and Stewards of Gods house to whom he hath giuen commission to dispense his misteryes all his goods but euery particular man may by speciall intentioÌ„ apply not his spirituall merits as M. Fulke contentiously cauilleth but his satisfactory workes with which he aboundeth to such as need them So S. Paul offered his afflictions one while for the Corinthians another while for the Colossians now he desired to dye for the Romans then to be Anathema that is A Sacrifice as Origen expoundeth it for the Iewes For this cause he exhorteth the Corinthians to contribute largely to the poore of Hierusalem saying Let in this present tyme your aboundance supply their want that their aboundance may supply your want As if he should say communicate you now vnto them the superfluity Chrysost Theod. Thom. Haymo Primas Ambros Oecum Theophil in hunc locum Fulke ibid. sect 3. of your worldly wealth that you may interchangeably receaue from them the supererogatioÌ„ of their spirituall good deeds Of their integrity of life and trust in God sayth S. Chrysostome Of their commendable patience Theodoret Of their prayers S. Thomas Of their fastings Haymo And of many other such spirituall blessings which Primasius S. Ambrose Oecumenius and Theophilact insinuate So as M. Fulkes saucines is detestable in forcing most of them to his priuate sense against their words and meaning against the text of S. Paul and this profitable exchange of spirituall fauours for temporall gifts 11. In fine King Dauid plainely acknowledgeth the mutuall communication of which now I treate saying Psal 118. Psal 12â— v. 3. I am made partaker of all that feare our Lord. And speaking of the Church which he calleth Hierusalem he sayth It is built as a Citty whose participation is in it selfe that is as in a politicke Common-wealth or publike Citty there is a generall trafficke for the common good of all euery particuler mans necessity so in the Church or Citty of God there is a participation or communion of spiritual workes of all to one end to one publike benefite and for the behoofe of euery priuate person In our naturall body one member sayth S. Augustine speaketh in behalfe of the Aug. in Psal 30. con 1. August tract 33. in Ioan. other The foot is troden on the tongue cryeth Why doest thou hurt me And in another place The eye only seeth in the body But what Doth the eye see to it selfe alone It seeth to the hand it seeth to the foot it seeth to the rest of the members c. The hand only worketh But what Doth it worke to it selfe It worketh to the eye So the foot walketh and laboureth for the rest of the members c. The same we see in a body Politicke One Cittizen taketh paine and dischargeth the debt of his fellowcittyzen Why then in this mysticall body of the Church 1. Cor. 12. Matth. 5â— Luc. â— which S. Paul compareth to a naturall our Sauiour to a Politike body why I say may not one member suffer affliction and by satisfying the iustice of God according to his weaknes redeeme the fine of punishment which is laid vpon another Because sayth M. Fulke it is written Fulke in c. 1. ad Colos sect 4. Ezech. 18. v. 20. ad Gala. 6. v. 5. Psal 48. v. 8. The soule which sinneth euen that shall dye Euery one shall beare his owne burden And No man can redeeme his brother or giue a price to God for him A weake battery to shake the Fort of my former reasons For there is no questioÌ„ but the soule which sinneth mortally of which Ezechiel speaketh incurreth without sorrow and repentance eternal death No question but euery one shall beare his owne burden in way of merit or demerit albeit he may be holpen by others in way of satisfaction It is likewise out of doubt Basil in comment in hunc locum that no man can giue a ransome to deliuer his brother from the guilt of sinne and danger of damnation as S. Basil expoundeth that passage Neuertheles he may giue a price dedicated in the bloud of Christ to redeem him froÌ„ the punishment the fault being pardoned 12. But M. Fulke obiecteth Our Buls or Plenaryes are giuen à culpa poena Both from the fault and paine They M. Fulke in ca. â— 2. Cor. sect 4. 6. graunt a full remission of all sinnes as may be seene in the grand Iubiley of Pope Boniface the eight and in that which Leo the tenth granted to the Hospitall of S. Spiritus in Saxia Almae Vrbis I confesse such wordes may be sometyme inserted not that by the force of Pardons the guilt of sinne is released but because they alwayes require as a necessary disposition in sinners either the benefit of absolution or perfect Contrition when absolution cannot be obtained Therefore they are sayd to giue a Plenary or full remission of sinnes to pardon the fault and punishment the fault by contrition or by the Sacrament of Confession the punishment which remayneth by the Charter of Indulgence 13. Then M. Fulke excepteth against the number of M. Fulke in ca. 2. 2. ad Cor. sect 7. yeares some Pardons containe as thousands of yeares and Lents besides full remission of all sinnes I answere when any pardon expresseth many thousand yeares Indulgence they are vnderstood of the years or Lents of Pennance which by the ancient Canons of the Church were inflicted vpon sinners For whereas they assigned sometymes 7. sometymes 10. now 12. now 15. now 30. yeares punishment sometyme the mourning of the whole remnant of our Vide Burchar Epis VVorma de poenit Decret l. 19. de fornicat Decret l 17 Vbi haec probat ex Conc. Ancyran c. 15. ex poenitentiali Theod. ex Decrâ—t Eutychi Papae ex poen Romano Iob. c. 15. 1â— life for certaine enormous crimes and often 40. dayes or a Lent of Pennance for lesser sinnes How many thousand yeares and how many Lents of such due correction are they behind on the score who haue a commoÌ„ custome of sinning drinke
fire Aug. l. 21. de Ciu. Dei cap. 24. 13. But when D. Fulke can find nothing in S. Augustine contrary to his assertion of Purgatory he and D. Field mightily labour to craze his credit as variable and irresolued in this point M. Field feareth not to write Aug. l. 2. de Gen. coÌ„â— Mani haeos cap. 20. Et post hanc vitaÌ„ habebit vel ignem purgationis vel poenaâ— aeternam Augustine to auoyd a worse did doubtingly runne into the errour of Purgatory M. Fulke as insolent as he The opinion of Purgatory in S. Augustines dayes began to be harkened vnto he doubteth of it Notwithstanding S. Augustine is so farre from doubting as he professeth of them that depart with the remainders of sin not wholy cleansed Tales constat c. It is manifest that those purged before the day of IudgmeÌ„ by temporal pains which their soules suffer are not deliuered to the punishments of eternall fire Again He who hath not happily tilled his field but hath suffered it to be ouergrowen with thornes hath in this life the malediction and curse of the earth in all his works and after this life Field in appen part 1. fol. 18. Lodouicus Viâ—es in cum locum he shall haue eyther the fire of Purgatory or euerlasting payne 14. To the first authority out of his booke of the Citty of God M. Field answereth That the words as Viues noteth are not found in some auncient manuscripts nor in that printed at Friburge But Viues annexeth which you most guilfully suppresse Neuertheles the stile is not dissonant from Augustines phrase peraduenture they are either wanting in some bookes or else are interlaced heere out of some other worke of S. Augustines So that if Viues censure may take place it should haue preuailed rather to haue made you reuerence that as S. Augustines saying then insolently reiect it as none of Field ibid. his To the second place he replieth as many cauilling Sophisters are wont to do to the texts of Aristotle they cannot otherwise auoyd that he speaketh not according to his owne mind but according to the opinion then preuailing of deliuerance out of Hell which S. Augustine in that place would not stand to discusse but else where refuteth it at large What Doth he approue and disproue the selfe same thing And doth he approue it heere by absolute asseueration and not by way of obiection Was he so peeuish as to countenance an errour himselfe taught repugnant to Scripture Or so farre ouerseene as to giue such aduantage to his prying enemies the Manichees whom he impugned and you the first to espie his fault which he one of the wisest and humblest that euer was eyther wanted grace to see or modesty to recall in his booke of Retractations There might be found perchaunce a man so senslesse as would giue eare vnto you if the same doctrine were not inuincibly confirmed by S. Augustine in sundry other places 15. In his booke of the Citty of God writing of the Infant regenerated by Baptisme He not only is not adiudged Aug. de Ciuit. Dei l. 21. c. 16. to eternall torments but neyther doth he suffer after death any Purgatory paynes Likewise in the 13. Chapter of the same booke As for temporall paine some endure it heere some heereafter and some both heere and there c. Some shall be pardoned in the world to come that are not pardoned in this In his treatise Aug. 50. boâ— ho. 16. Ezech. 24. of 50. Hom lies he verifieth of the sinfull soule after this life that saying of Ezechiel Lay it naked vpon the coales vntill her brasse be heated and all her tinne be fried out There the idle words and wicked or impure cogitatious there the multitude of lesser sinnes which haue infected the purity of the noble nature shal seeth forth there the tynne or lead which haue obscured the diuine Image shall be consumed All which might heere by almeesdeeds and teares after a more short and compendious manner haue beene purged from the soule Wherby you may see how absolutly Field in append par fol 19 Field ibid. fol. 17. Fulke in c. 3. 1. ad Cor. sect 6. and against Purgat p. 121. 122. Aug. in Enchir. c. 69. Aug. l. 5. Hypogn Fulke in c. 12. Mat. sect 6. Aug. de Ciuit. Dei l. 21. c. 26â— S. Augustine is resolued in this point and how voyd of sincerity that protestation of M. Fields is I dissent not from Augustine in anything he constantly deliuereth But the places which are gathered out of him partly by M. Field partly by M. Fulke and others coueting to discrie some vnconstancy and variablenesse of his opinion are these First out of his Enchiridion to Laurence It is not incredible that some such thing also is done after this life and whether it be or not it may be found out or it may be hid Secondly out of his booke of Hypognost where he sayth The third place we are vtterly ignorant of Lastly out of his booke of the Citty of God If any one say the Spirits of the dead all that while suffer such fire c. I contradict him not perhaps he may hold the truth Where S. Augustine nothing doubteth of the assertion of Purgatory paines after this life but only of the manner and quality of them For in the first place hauing expounded the fire S. Paul mentioneth of the fire of tribulation in this life that is of the griefe anguish that tormenteth them that loose their temporall goods which they ouer greedily affected he only doubteth whether there be any such griefe and sorrow in the next life or Aug. ad Duâ—cit quest 1. no for the losse of wordly commodities Which doubt he maketh also in his treatise to Dulcitius 16. In the second place he argueth against the Pelagians who graunted to the Baptized Infants a speciall place Aug. lib. 5. hypognos of eternall ioy and as he proueth no place of euerlasting death but hell so he denyeth any place of continuall coÌ„fort and ioy but heauen alone saying Assigne me besides this another place where there may be perpetuall repose of life A third place of perpetuall abode he was ignorant of and so are we In the last passage S. Augustine disputeth and leaueth it as it were in suspense whether the fire of Purgatory be the same in substance with the fire of Hell yet neuer maketh question but that there is some purging fire after this life And it is nothing but desperate boldnes in our Aduersaryes to auouch the contrary as the zeale of his honour iust defence of so great a pillar of the Church hath made me declare more amply then my purposed breuity would otherwise permit 17. I need not repeate the consent of other Fathers of the Latin Church whose authorityes I haue already alleadged and at whome our enemyes and theirs carpe not so much as they do at S. Augustine I passe
S. Fulgentius Because God by foreknowledge saw the sinnes of men he dictated the sentence of predestination S. Prosper The grace of God did not forsake the reprobate before they foresooke him and because he foresaw they would soe doe by voluntarie defection therfore he inrolled them not in the catalogue of the predestinate Otherwise irreuocably to purpose mans endlesse paynes before the fore sight of his default in that necessarie and vnauoydable manner as Protestants teach is as far beyond the immanity and barbarousnes of other tyrants as eternall death exceedeth temporall or the paines of hell surmon◠the torments inslicted vpon earth Neyther is this immanity any thing lessened whether that slauery or thraldome wherby the reprobate are enchayned to mischeife commeth from the corruptiō of sinne as Fulke holdeth Fulk in ca. 11. Math. sect 1. Caluin lib. 3. institut cap. 23. § 8. or from the decree of reprobation which is the wil of God necessarily inferring the things decreed as Caluin also auerreth nor yet is that cruelty lessened by the slime of originall infection from whence you conuey this necessary slauery First because that taketh not place in the deuills who were reprobate not withstanding in the like sort with men Secondly because you teach reprobation to haue been decreed before the preuision of original sin Thirdly for that you depriue the reprobate of freewill in respect of all other actuall sinnes for which they are supposing that absurdity without all right and equity eternally tormented 7. Moreouer this infamous doctrine maketh almighty God not only cruell and barbarous but wicked also and vniust For S. Augustine speaking of the infected Aug. epist. 106. ad Paulinum masse or corrupted lump of humane nature out of which he deliuered some leauing others saith If that masse were so between both that as it meriteth no good so it deserueth no euill not without cause should it seeme iniquity that vessells of dishonor should Fulgent lib. 1. ad Monim cap. 21. be framed of it S. Fulgentius cōformably saith If when man was created of God he was so in his present worke good that in his predestination he should be euill without doubt he was to be euill by the worke of God by whome he was predestinated to sinne whervpon he inferreth that God shold haue in himselfe the origē of iniquity he shold be author of euill his iustice should become iust with other like Atheismes with which our Reformers are Ibid. c. 22. incombred although they giue out that God doth soe to manifest his power glorie and almightines because if the meanes be ill the end cannot be good or if it could it implieth contradiction his power should achieue any thing which crosseth his mercy and impayreth his iustice he cannot decree that to the glory of his name which derogateth from any other attribute or perfection of his nature Then what glorie can redound to God by that ignominious act of abandoning his creatures without their desert Or what mercy on the other side by decreeing mās fall into sinne that he might after rayse him vp What mercy by making him miserable to the intent he may haue mercy on him For he that is sincerely mercifull according to S. Augustin had rather there were nothing for him to pitty c. then to wish men wretched to the intent he might pitty them Aug. l. 3. Conf. cap. 2 8. Againe if God determined to create the reprobate to proclayme his power as he doth the elect the shew the riches of his mercy both originally flowing from his Echlus in Chrysopasso praedest cent 3 nu 52. Psal 144. v. 9. Eccles 15. v. 22. will and purpose it must needs ensue as learned Eckius notably disputeth that there should be many more chosen to blisse then abandoned to damnation because god is more prone to mercy then to iustice to doe good then to procure euill Our Lord is sweet to all and his mercies or commiserations are ouer all his workes he desireth not a multitude of faythlesse and vnprofitable children Therfore the huge hoast of the reprobate surpassing by so many degrees the small number of the elect proceed not from his mercifull wil but from their owne way ward and rechelesse disposition in which he foreseeth they will finally persist and depart this life 9. Besides these detestable errors which attend on the aforsaid phrensy of our Sectaries there is yet another reason à priori why God can not reiect cast away any Rom. 9. in such sort as they affirme because reprobatiō is as act of hatred as the Apostle doth insinuate but God of himselfe cannot hate his owne workes vnlesse they be defiled Aug. lib. 1 ad Simplie 9. 9. 2. with sinne God as S. Augustine Writeth hated not Esau a man but Esau a sinner that is he hated him not in that priority in which he ordeined to creeate him a reasonable man but in that after-sight in which he foresaw the contamination of his sinne Thou sayth the Wiseman vnto Sap. 10. 25 God louest all things that are and hatest nothing of those which thou hast made for thou didest not ordayn or make any thing hating it Yea he himselfe doth not only loue whatsoeuer he hath made but ingendreth in all creatures the like loue to their of spring he teacheth the Tyger to fight the Lyon to prey all beasts and birds to venture their liues in defence of their yonge ones What sauage mind then can thinke him so sauage as to hate and destroy the works of his owne hands without any cause or default of theirs Beza in tract theolog is meruailously perplexed with this argumēt and after much a do rather blasphemeth then answereth it What doth the author of nature so much degenerate from the course of nature as not to beare to his owne the affection he begetteth in all creatures to their of-spring Do you thinke that he doth communicate the perfection of loue which he hath not or by communicating it to others looseth it himselfe both wayes you detract from Gods infinite goodnes Do you thinke he naturally loueth that which he eternally hateth or cherisheth as his owne what he abandoneth as none of his Both wayes you approue a contradiction in God 13. Lastly if God hate the reprobate and determine their ruine before they be seen to be euil whence shold that art of hatred arise Not from the person hated for he we suppose deserueth it not nor yet from God he is vncapable of any such act he is the Ocean of charity wel-spring of loue Deus Charitas est God is charity he is ◠Ioan. 4. 8. loue it selfe Therfore as no clowd of error can arise from the prime origen of truth no sparcke of folly from the Oracle of wisedome so no streame of hatred can flowe from the fountaine of loue Hate then his creatures God cannot by any act of hatred which shold be in himselfe but only by